The Reality of Innocence
by Maddigm
Summary: This story was inspired by The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looking for Alaska. It's about a girl in her Junior year of high school trying to juggle it all while figuring out who she is. She is trying to stand out and yet not be seen. She learns what it is to grow up in our society.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – First Day

Nikki Kastel walked down the crowded halls of Auburn Central High. She shoved her way through the nervous freshman, past the tight groups of sophomores who now thought they were the shit, and weaved through the few seniors who decided to show up early to school. It was the first day of her junior year and she was surprisingly excited as she bounced over to her claimed spot in the Mall, the common area of the school. It was right in between the arts hallway and the glass doors that led outside to the practice fields. And there, leaning against the glass doors, was her best friend, Jen Lawrence.

"Nikki!" Jen cried and rushed to give her friend a hug. She tried to encompass Nikki in her grasp, but she wasn't quite big enough to get her arms all the way around her backpack. "God damn, what do you have in there? It's only the first day."

Nikki blushed slightly. She hated when anyone brought to light her nerdy side. "I just wanted to be prepared."

"I know it's junior year, but it's ok to relax a little." Jen punched her friend in the arm playfully.

"I know, I know," Nikki sighed. She slid her backpack off her shoulder onto the ground and leaned up against the doors next to Jen.

"So," Jen started with a playful look in her eyes, "got your eye on any cute freshmeat yet?"

Nikki rolled her eyes and smiled at her best friend. "Dating a freshman boy would be like dating a 4 year old. I prefer my men older."

Jen raised her eyebrows at her. "Is that so? Well there are plenty of seniors on the lookout too, I'm sure."

"But I'm not looking to date at the moment. I really need to focus on my school work. This is the year that counts the most when applying to colleges."

Jen gave her a stern look. "There you go again. Nikki it is possible to do good in school and have a little fun on the side, you know."

Nikki opened her mouth to counter back when the bell wrang, the loud, offensive noise bouncing off the walls and stopping any conversation form being heard. She took advantage of the disruption to head off to class with a quick promise to meet Jen after school at their cars. She loved her friend to death, but sometimes she could be a little overbearing with the pressure to have fun.

Nikki glanced down at her schedule. She had Chemistry first followed by English, AP Psychology and finally Sociology. She sighed as she tucked her schedule back into her bag. At least Sociology was suppose to be an easy class.

She had started off the day excited but as each class went by she got more and more discouraged for this year. It was going to be one hell of a tough year. It was now the final block of the day, Sociology. She walked in, expecting the class to be free seating. Her face fell when she noticed small names written on sticky notes in the corners of each desk. After trudging around the room, looking like an idiot for a good five minutes she finally found her seat near the back of the class. She threw her bag on the floor and fell into the seat.

The teacher began class, introducing himself as Mr. Schneider. They had gotten about ten minutes into class when the door opened. A tall, handsome boy stood in the doorway. Mr. Schneider turned to him with an expecting look.

"Sorry I, uh, got lost." The kid shrugged his shoulders.

Mr. Schneider gave him a once over. "You new here?"

The kid shook his head.

"Then I'm _sure_ you were late." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Please take a seat Mr…?"

"Cooper, Axel Cooper." He offered the teacher a crooked smile.

"Well, Mr. Cooper," The teacher said, grabbing his roster, "I hope you know I won't tolerate tardiness, especially from a senior."

The entire class had been suppressing giggles throughout this exchange. Nikki glanced at the empty seat beside her. In the top right hand corner of the desk on the sticky note was the name Axel Cooper. She groaned internally. She did not need some cocky, annoying senior to fuck up her chance at an easy A in this class.

Axel found his way to the desk beside hers and slid into the seat. He slouched down a bit and then turned and threw that gorgeous crooked smile her way. Nikki couldn't help but smile back before quickly turning away. He had short reddish-brown hair with golden brown eyes and a smile that could light up your world. And Nikki despised him for it.

**XxXxX**

"So, how were your classes?" Jen asked, hoisting herself up onto the hood of Nikki's blue Ford Explorer. "Still excited for this year?"

Nikki leaned against the front of her car. "I don't know. I may be in a bit over my head."

"I told you not to sign up for such hard classes!"

"Yea, but I really want to get into a good college." Nikki was tired of defending herself when it came to these things.

"Alright, well, did you meet any cute boys?" Jen grabbed a strand of Nikki's dirty blonde hair and twirled it around her finger.

"No," she immediately replied, but then paused. "Well…"

"Do tell!" Jen urged.

"There was this one senior in my Sociology class. He made an entrance by coming in late. Probably one of those class clown fools." She shrugged.

"What does he look like? What's his name?"

"Axel Cooper. He's really tall and-" But Jen cut her off.

"Oh my God, I've seen him around before! He's not the most popular kid but damn is he cute!" She gushed.

"Well I'm not really sure about him," Nikki commented.

"Just you wait Nikki!" Jen grabbed her shoulder and gave her a shake.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Invite

Nikki plopped herself into her assigned seat in the back of her Sociology class. It was already a good two weeks into school and she was definitely feeling the burn of taking such demanding classes. This class was her one free escape for the normal humdrum of taking tedious notes and struggling to stay awake just long enough to retain information. And she had to admit, Axel was a breath of fresh air.

"Hey cutie pie," Axel greeted her, flicking a strand of her long, dirty blonde hair.

Nikki couldn't hide her grin every time Axel called her some cute little pet name, even if she claimed to hate pet names.

"Did you do the homework?"

Her face immediately fell. Of course he would only be using her to get a good grade in this class. She had tried to ignore the fact he would ask for her classwork or glance over at her paper during a quiz. But now it was becoming obvious he was only being nice to her to get her help in the class.

"Yeah." Nikki reluctantly slid her paper over to him.

"Thanks sweet heart." He threw another one of his dazzling smiles her way.

She simply nodded and turned from him. For the rest of the class she watched the clock, counting down the seconds until she got out for the weekend. Finally the bell wrang and Nikki jumped out of her seat. She started for the door when a firm hand on her arm stopped her. She turned to see Axel staring at her with that stupid half grin on his face.

"What?" She snapped.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Getting snappy now are we?"

Nikki crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a challenging look.

"Relax sweet cheeks." He patted her on the arm. "I was going to invite you to my party tonight, but if you're going to be all uptight I'm not sure I want you to come," he teased.

Nikki looked Axel over. Why would he be inviting her to his party? She barely knew him and he seemed to be only using her. But then she remembered, "I can't. I've got work tonight." She shrugged in apology.

Nikki thought she saw his face drop for a fraction of a second before he responded.

"That's a shame. But just in case you get off early or something," he grabbed a pen from his pocket and a stray piece of paper off the floor and wrote his address on it before handing it to Nikki. He nodded at her and then walked out of the room.

Nikki was left standing there, holding the piece of paper with a look of confusion on her face. She shook her head before heading out to meet Jen at their cars.

**XxXxX**

"Oh my God you _have_ to go Nikki!" Jen exclaimed after Nikki explained to her what had just happened.

"But I've got work tonight," Nikki explained, throwing her backpack in the trunk of her car.

"Screw work! How often do you get invited to parties?" Jen was waving her arms in excitement.

Nikki ignored the slight dig at her almost nonexistent social life. "I'd rather keep my job, thanks."

Jen gave her a stern look. "Ok, alright, I get it. You want to make junior year as boring as possible. Whatever Nikki!"

She sighed and opened her car door. "If I change my mind, which won't happen, I'll call you, alright?"

Jen stuck her tongue out at her. "Okay Nikki."

**XxXxX**

Nikki drummed her fingers against the marble counter of the flower boutique she worked at. She had gotten there over an hour ago and had taken all of 15 orders, which was nothing compared to the usual buzz of a Friday night. She looked up at the clock. It was almost 7pm. She straightened up and began to walk aimlessly around the shop, looking for things to do. She rearranged some of the flowers in the front window and tried to keep herself busy.

"Nikki?" Marty, Nikki's manager, called out to her from the back of the store.

"Yes Marty?" Nikki called back.

"Come help me move some of these boxes and then I'll let you off early. It's really dead tonight."

"Sure thing!" Nikki walked into the back room of the store. There were a pile of boxes stacked almost to the ceiling, filled with what looked like little vases and pots for the followers.

"I just need some help putting these in the storage room," Marty said from behind a box she was carrying.

It didn't take them more than 20 minutes before all the boxes were packed tightly into the too small storage room.

"Well, have a lovely night sweetheart, you're free to go," Marty smiled at her young employee.

"Thank you Marty." Nikki hugged her before walking out to her car. Marty was like a second mom to her. She was always looking out for her and checking up on her, but not in the overbearing parental sort of way. Nikki loved working for her.

Nikki hopped into her car, put the keys in the ignition, but didn't start it. She sat there looking at the little piece of paper sitting in the consol with his address on it. She stared at it for a solid minute before whipping out her phone and pressing number 3 speed dial. The phone wrang twice before it was answered.

"You're going to the party?" Jen screamed into the receiver.

Nikki held the phone away from her ear and winced. "I don't know Jen."

"Nikki, are you fucking kidding me? An extremely attractive senior boy personally invited you to his party. It would be rude not to go!"

"I guess…" Nikki held the phone further away from her ear as Jen yelled in excitement. "But you're coming with to make sure I don't make a total fool of myself."

"Duh!" Nikki could just imagine Jen bouncing with anticipation.

"Alright, I'll pick you up in like 30."

"See you then gorgeous!"

Nikki closed her phone and sighed. What had she gotten herself into?


End file.
